


we are just too pretty for God to let us die

by thegirlwiththeottertattoo



Category: Firefly, Power Rangers (2017), Serenity (2005)
Genre: Day Five, F/F, Firefly AU, Kim as an annoying little shit, Trimberly Week, Tw: the bad guy says mean shit about wmen, but I love the concept, exasperated dad Jason, i know the show had some issues, just rangers, no firefly crew show up sorry, random use of phoentically written Chinese, space western, surly Trini
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 23:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththeottertattoo/pseuds/thegirlwiththeottertattoo
Summary: it was supposed to be a nice easy piece of thievery, but things start to go downhill when folks start with the punching. (or: Jason is pretty sure the 'verse hates him for having put both Kimberly AND Trini on his crew)A Firefly AU for Trimberly Week,Day Five, Crossover





	we are just too pretty for God to let us die

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, here's my Trimberly Day 5, Crossover (it's 10pm here so this is totally on time). It's a Firefly/Serenity AU. If you've never seen Firefly it's basically a space Western that takes place in far future where China is the ruling cultural influence (thus the random Chinese dialogue, in italics). The concept is cool but the execution could be... problematic (I had actually sort of forgotten how much so until a reviewer reminded me, thanks Draenator). So this is firefly minus the BS and plus Trini firing a giant gun. 
> 
> Title is a quote from the show.
> 
> Okay I'll shut up now. Enjoy!

**Now**

“ _Ta ma de!_ This job was supposed to be easy!!” yelled Jason Scott as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him down the main street of the sketchiest town in the sketchiest colony on the sketchiest planet in the ‘verse. He skidded around a corner and nearly knocked over a food cart that was selling something that looked and smelled distinctly like cow shit. He dodged around and kept going, glancing back to see the rest of his crew tearing around the corner as well.

“It would’ve been if Kimmy hadn’t beaten that man up," said Billy matter of factly between panting breaths, his long legs keeping him closest to Jason.

Trini grinned and barked out a laugh as she sent a bullet over her shoulder at the dozen hired thugs who were barreling down the street after them, “I saw his tooth come out! It bounced off a wall!”

Jason shook his head, “This isn’t funny!”

Kimberly was running alongside Trini, somehow keeping pace with them despite wearing an elegantly tailored, though sadly bloodstained, silk dress, corset and high heeled boots (someday he’d have to figure out how she did that; he was sure it was something they taught in Comapnion School). She shrugged, “I’m sure they’ll be able to put it back.”

“What did I do to deserve this…” growled Jason under his breath as he pulled the comm out of his pocket and yelled, “Zack! How’re we doing??”

“ _Cargo’s half loaded_ ,” came the voice of their pilot.

“Only _half_??” Jason exclaimed as he turned the final corner to where they’d stashed the hauler. He vaulted into the front seat. Billy scrambled in beside him in a blur of limbs as Jason punched the ignition. The engine sputtered to life, coughing unhealthily. “We’re five minutes out with a whole gorram bar full of assholes on our tail, and you’re telling me only half of our _incredibly valuable cargo_ is actually on the ship!!?”  he had to resist the urge to punch something.

“ _Couldn’t be helped, boss. Guy who delivered it wanted to bargain_.”

“He can’t bargain, we’d already agreed on a price!” Jason said as Trini barreled into the hauler. Kimberly followed a half second later, somehow managing to slide into her seat with preternatural grace. Jason rolled his eyes, gorram companion training…

“ _I know. Me and Tommy managed to convince him it just took half a tick longer than it should’ve_.” Jason could only hope that meant that Tommy had towered over everyone looking intimidating until they’d backed off and accepted the agreed upon price, not that Zack had done something incredibly reckless and Tommy had had to clean things up by kicking someone’s ass, which would most definitely mean the end of any business with that seller.

A bullet whizzed by his head, indicating he didn’t have a whole lot of time to waste considering things that would be irrelevant if he ended up dead.

“Okay fine,” he replied, “just load it up as fast as you can, we’ll try to figure out things on our end.” Jason put the radio back in his pocket and hit the gas. The hauler shot forward. It wasn’t the fastest thing vehicle in the world, but it’d help them outrun a mob on foot.

Behind him he heard Trini pick up her favorite gun (a gigantic pulse rifle that was almost as big as she was, inexplicably named Betty), greet it with a cheerful, “ _Hola, carino_ …” and settle it into the bracket on the back of the hauler.

As Trini began firing towards the men in pursuit, Kimberly said, “Keep talking to her that way and I’m going to start getting jealous.”

“Betty and I are just _platonic_ soulmates, _princesa,_ you know my heart belongs to you.”

“Damn right,” Kim replied, and she proceeded to lean over and kiss Trini hard on the mouth. Trini kept firing as she kissed her back, somehow managing to keep her shots going in roughly the correct direction.

Jason rolled his eyes. He was happy that they were happy (he guessed) but god they were disgusting sometimes, “Don’t kill anyone!” he told Trini, in an effort to break up the lovefest, “We don’t need to give ‘em any reason to chase us outta atmo once we’re at the ship!”

“Ugh, fine,” Trini growled as she disengaged her face from Kimberly’s with some reluctance, “You’re so boring sometimes, boss.”

Kimberly gave Trini final chaste peck on the cheek, “It’s okay, tiger,” she purred, “knowing us there’ll be plenty of opportunities for Betty to get a real workout.” She had pulled out her own pistol from the holster concealed on her ankle, just under her skirts, a sleek but deadly thing she’d designed for herself with Billy’s help, and was keeping the men behind them at bay as well. Betty roared loudly as Trini fired over their pursuer’s heads, getting just close enough to keep them guessing.

Billy frowned, “If the cargo’s only half loaded, Zack is gonna need at least another half hour for the rest of it, and at our speed, we’re going to make it back to the ship in approximately ten minutes twenty seven seconds, unless those guys catch up with us somehow…”

“Thank you for that, Billy,” Jason said, tense, trying not to snap at the mechanic. He was only trying to be helpful. And precise.

“They shouldn’t catch up with us, though," said Billy, "The hauler isn't exactly fast but they’re all on foot so…”

“Uhhh, boss,” Trini yelled over the roar of the engine, and the wind and the gunfire, “they’ve got horses…”

Jason looked behind them and saw a half dozen guys on horseback catching up with the hauler quickly. He sighed deeply. “Well… _go-se_ …”

**

**Then**

_6 hours earlier..._  

“This ain’t what we’re here for, Kimberly,” Jason said, glaring at her over the top of his coffee cup.

“You’re right, it’s not,” Kimberly replied. She was facing him down across the messy table. She was plowing through a breakfast that seemed entirely composed of the sugary pastries they’d picked up at their last stop. Jason had no idea how she kept her figure eating like that. Perhaps it was some sort of Companion trick (he’d made the mistake of asking about it once, and she’d replied with a sly smirk and said, “I may not be a Companion anymore, but I still get a lot of vigorous workouts,” before grabbing Trini by the hand and dragging her off. Trini had just grinned and said, “I’ll be in my bunk…”)

“What we’re here for is cargo that will be just enough to cover our expenses for this trip, and that’s just the cost of the fuel and the supplies and the repairs, not the fact that this is one of the most dangerous systems in the verse,” her voice had a razor edge to it, this was not an new discussion, “It’s your trademark job: high risk, low reward, but helps a bunch of _widers and orphans_ that happened to appeal to your noble sense of justice. So there really ought to be no problem with taking a few hours to do something that I think might be worthwhile.”

Trini was sitting on Kimberly’s right with Betty the pulse rifle disassembled and laid out in front of her. She didn’t look up as she shook her head, “She’s gotcha there, boss.”

“You’re biased!” snapped Jason.

Trini just shrugged, “Maybe, but if the job’s really as easy as Kim’s friend says, how’s it any skin off our humps?  Ain’t like it’ll interfere with some busy schedule we got,” she examined the rifle’s stock carefully and ran a soft cloth over it, “Contact’s not supposed to meet us for another two hours, and the cargo’s gonna take a while to load.”

Jason shook his head, “You can’t be bothered to say two words in a row any other time, but Kim all of a sudden starts making an argument and you’re a gorram debate medalist.”

 “Guess I just feel passionate about it or whatever.” Kimberly kissed Trini on the cheek as she started to put the gun back together.

“You’re passionate about something anyway,” Jason looked at Tommy, “What do you think?”

“If it’s as easy as Kimberly’s friend says I don’t see how it can hurt, necessarily.”

Jason gave Tommy that said ‘really? You too?’. Tommy shrugged, “I mean, Kim does have a point, sir. You’re the captain, and it’s your choice what jobs we take, but I say if we can help someone, possibly a lot of people, with a quick in and out job that won’t throw us off schedule or effect our pickup, we ought to do it.”

“And if it’s _not_ as easy as Kimberly’s friend says?”

“Then we pull out.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Jason muttered. He looked back at Kimberly who was somehow managing to chew a mouthful of food and look immensely smug at the same time (probably another thing they taught at Companion school). “And you trust this friend of yours?”

Kimberly swallowed her food and smiled sweetly, “As much as you trust me… Captain.”

Trini snorted. Tommy coughed to hide a smile. Jason wished Billy were here instead of down in the engine room trying to make the life support system more efficient with some booster he’d created (which Tommy had assured him looked like it might work), although with his luck, Billy would’ve found the whole thing entirely sensible.

“And,” Kimberly added, “She’ll pay us. Once she has access to Fleming’s network she’ll be able to transfer us enough money to support our nonsensical do gooding for months.”

Jason glared at her and rolled his eyes, “Fine. _Fine_. We’ll do the gorram job.

******

Ty Fleming didn’t like surprises. His family owned half the inhabitable property in this godforsaken system, and it meant that he had enough power and authority that he didn’t have to worry about the unexpected. He prided himself on always knowing what was going to be happening, on always dictating how a transaction was going to go.

Unexpected people or situations vexed him, which was why, when he walked into the Monte Verde Club on the third Saturday of the month at 2pm for his usual appointment, he was not happy to see that there had been a change.

The Club was a high quality one, even though it was situated in one of the less savory towns in the colony. Everyone knew it was under the Fleming family’s protection, so no one caused trouble there. It made the place good as a neutral ground for dealings of all sorts. The bar was nearly full today, which he had been expecting, but normally he knew all the people who might be there, even the ones from off planet. He had eyes and ears everywhere, so if someone set foot in his colony he was immediately informed.

After determining what didn’t feel right, he strode across the bar to the large booth near the back that was reserved exclusively for his use and the use of his select circle.

As soon as Fleming sat, one of the usual barmaids appeared with a drink. Like most of the women who served drinks, she had started out as one of the pleasure girls and had moved on to serving when she got too old or there was… an incident. Fleming had had this one a couple times. She had been adequate, but had made the mistake of talking back to him once. The long scar he’d left on her right cheek had been light, but enough to keep her from being of use to anyone else. The girl set the drink on the table before him, face carefully blank (although he was pleased to see the hint of fear in her eyes), making every effort not to spill a single drop, then scurried back to the bar.

As soon as she was gone, the owner of the Club, a tall, leggy blonde named Amanda appeared, sliding gracefully into the seat next to him, hand outstretched. Fleming took it and kissed it. Amanda was a former Companion. She had been removed from the Guild after a scandal of some sort, something so serious she had had to come all the way out to the Outer Colonies to escape the shame of it.

Fleming found Companions distasteful. The idea that a woman of any sort, let alone one who sold body for money, could have more status and respect than a hardworking man such as himself was absurd, but this Amanda had proven to him that she knew her place. She’d arrived with nothing but the clothes on her back, and had managed to build this place from the ground up. When it became big enough, Fleming had come to her and informed her that in order for her business and her body to stay upright and unharmed, she would have to submit to the arrangement the Flemings made with all business in the colony.

He knew that many business owners found the terms onerous, but the Fleming family had firmly established that disputing their authority was unwise. These days, they barely had to lift a finger to enforce their contracts, their reputation was more than enough. He was not so foolish as to believe that this had not made him more than a few enemies, but none in this part of the system who would dare actually challenge him.

Before Amanda could say anything, Fleming said, "Who are the new girls?"

She didn't phased by his question, although with her training he could never be quite certain of her reactions. Though she must have known he would asked about anything unusual or new because her answer is immediate. "They arrived on Monday. The bartender is Rebecca's sister, come from Higgson, needed a job," she said, gesturing. Fleming examined the girl behind the bar, she was dressed in the white collared shirt and black vest all of Amanda's bartenders wore. Her eyes were dark brown, and her skin was a deep bronze. Her brown hair fell in loose waves around her face. She moved with assurance behind the bar, clearly experienced with pouring drinks. She seemed more reserved than was typical for Amanda's servers, her eyes guarded, but that could easily be attributed to it being her first week.

The longer he watched her, the more something was prickling at the back of his mind. Something about the way she was moving that seemed a little more... dangerous than a typical bartender. Before he could dwell on it overlong, the other newcomer came slinking up to the bar with a man on her arm that Fleming recognized as one of Amanda's regulars, a trader from the next town over. This woman was beautiful. Her skin was nearly the same shade as the bartender's, she wore a red silk dress that was the perfect balance of modest and revealing, and she moved with a casual assurance. Her hair was shorter than he usually liked, but styled well. She knew how beautiful she was and needed to do nothing ostentatious to prove it.

The man on her arm was her entire focus, as though he was the only man in the room, and more than that, as though she wanted nothing more than to make love to him. Her body bent towards him, her hand touching his arm between sips of the drink the bartender had put before her. Her gaze heavily lidded and seductive, her smile languid and sultry.

Fleming was barely listening to Amanda's explanation of where the girl came from (something about the Core and a new start, which usually meant some disgrace). His blood was pounding in his ears and all he wanted was to have this woman, to do with her as he pleased... he interrupted Amanda, "I want her."

Amanda quirked an eyebrow, "Who? Shanti?" she asked, tilting her head toward the new girl.

"Yes," he wasn't particularly happy that the other man was with her at all. Generally Amanda saved all the girls she thought he would like for him to have first, and she was most certainly his type.

Amanda didn't hesitate, even though the girl was with a client already. She stood and led the way to the bar.

**

Trini was at the opposite end of the bar, pouring some ridiculous mixed drink she didn't think people in these backwaters would go near, when she saw Amanda and Tyler Fleming approaching out of the corner of her eye. It took everything in her not to look up and scowl at the man as she would have anyone else who'd approached Kimberly in a place like this. It was hard enough to let Amanda's friend Dennis play the role of happy customer, and he was twice Kimberly's age and (Amanda assured her) very gay, although he evidently kept it hidden because he didn't want to upset his wife. ("Long story," Amanda had said).

She slid the drink she'd just made over the bar towards the server with the scar, Helene, then moved down the bar as Amanda gestured her over. "A Scotch for Mr. Fleming, the reserve."

Fleming was kissing Kimberly's hand and she was smiling and giving him a little curtsy, leaning over towards him and whispering into his ear, probably some bullshit about how handsome and powerful he was. Trini's jaw tightened as she poured the man's drink and she didn't feel even a little bit bad about slipping a dose of sleeping powder into it. She forced a smile onto her face as she took the drink and slid it over to him. "Enjoy sir," she said, her voice polite. 

He barely acknowledged her, taking the drink in his left hand and Kimberly's hand in his right, and leading her towards the stairs. Trini narrowed her eyes. Bastard didn't waste any time. Amanda glanced over her and put a hand on her arm, "Keep a lid on it, Ms. Gomez," she whispered, "At least until they're in the room."

Trini nodded and tried to clear her face again. She watched as Fleming opened the door to one of the rooms and led Kim inside. The door closed and Trini's hands itched for her guns. It was probably good she couldn't see what was going on in there.

***

Fleming drank his Scotch down in one long draw before he leaned down to kiss her. Kimberly had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Did he think he was being impressive and manly? She supposed she should be grateful he was keeping conversation to a minimum, and that he'd ingested all of the sleeping powder in one go, which hopefully meant it wouldn't be long until he was collapsing.

She was well trained, so kissing someone she wasn't particularly interested in kissing was second nature to her. Though it was a bit harder to do now, after two years of kissing someone she was actually in love with. In the old days, she had cleared her mind before and after each client through meditation and quiet contemplation (although admittedly those were never her strong points), which kept her from comparing one client to the other. But now she couldn't help comparing him to Trini.

He kissed roughly, methodically, more interested in establishing the fact that he was in charge than making the experience pleasant for her. His lips were thin and slightly chapped and cold. Trini had plump lips, and somehow her mouth was always warm no matter what, like she had some sort of internal heater that she activated right before they kissed. Even when she was rough and demanding, she was always thinking of Kimberly's needs, about whether it was good for her. She was probably the most considerate person Kim had ever been with, and that included clients. Kissing Trini was, in fact, one her favorite things to do in the world, and she could do it for hours (had done it for hours, often to Jason's chagrin)... she wouldn't say she liked it better than sex with Trini, but it was right up there...

Before she could go down that path any further, Fleming drew away, frowning at her, "Is there a problem?"

Kimberly gave her a dazzling smile, as she mentally kicked herself for getting a bit carried away thinking about her girlfriend's mouth. "No not at all, Mr. Fleming."

He narrowed his eyes at her. Amanda had warned her that the man was paranoid and prickly, that he had a very particular idea of how women should react to him, and wasn't very good at handling it when they didn't do what he wanted. "Am I boring you somehow?"

"No of course not!" why was the damn powder not working??

"Where did you say you were from?"

"The Core, sir."

"Hm," his brow furrowed and he took a step back, staggering slightly. Then he looked at the glass he'd just set down,  picked it up again, and sniffed at it. When he looked back at her, his face was alight with rage, "You bitch! What did you put in my drink?"

"I don't know what you're..."

He grabbed her roughly by the arms and shook her, "Don't play the fool, girl! Whatever your plot is it will not work! I spent years building up immunities to basic poisons and sleeping draughts..." 

Kimberly let the mask drop and glowered at him, "Well that would've been nice to know!"

His grip on her arms tightened, and he lowered his face to hers until he was nearly as close as he had been when they were kissing. "Tell me what you put in the drink!"

"Technically I didn't put anything in the drink, the hot bartender did," Kim said, "Also, thank you." 

He frowned, "What?"

"Thank you. For leaning your head down like that, makes it sight easier to do this," and with that she head butted him hard. There was a satisfying crunch as his nose broke. He bellowed loudly and let go of her arms, staggering back and doubling over as he grabbed at his face. She brought her knee up into his gut and he dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, groaning.

"You bitch, you fucking bitch..." he wheezed, rolling around clutching his stomach.

"That's not very polite," she said, dropping to one knee beside him, and drawing the butterfly knife from inside its hidden pocket in her bodice. She flipped it open smoothly and grabbed Fleming's right wrist. His eyes went wide as he realized what she was going to do and he tried to jerk his hand away. Kimberly shifted quick as a snake, taking the arm she was holding and wrenching it around, popping it painfully out of its socket and causing another howl of pain. "Clearly you're much better at hitting helpless women than being hit by them."

She crouched down again and used the knife to slice open his sleeve. "Nice shirt. Is it silk?" he let loose with a string of enraged grunts and swear words in English and Chinese, but since she'd shifted him so she was practically sitting on top of him and his face was pressed into the carpet she could barely understand him.

Kimberly examined his forearm carefully. It took a moment to find it, and if she hadn't been looking for it she would've missed it entirely. There was a small, square protrusion just below his elbow. She smiled brightly, "Now all Companions are given basic medical training so I can make sure you probably won't bleed to death, but I must warn you that I really don't give a fuck whether this hurts or not. Just remember, we were trying to make it so you were unconscious when this happened..."

With that, she raised the knife and sliced into his arm.

*** 

Trini and Amanda rushed up the stairs as soon as they heard the first bellow, and burst into the room just as Kimberly was pulling the chip from Fleming's arm.

Kimberly looked up and glared at Amanda as she thrust the chip, still dripping blood, into her white gloved hands. "You might have mentioned his whole 'immunity to poisons' thing..."

"That was just a rumor," Amanda replied, not altogether convincingly. Trini gave her a hard look and considered punching her in the face.

"Not worth it, babe," Kimberly said as she stood, having read her intent from the nature of her silence (Trini had no idea how she did that). Fleming was still conscious somehow, but he was a quivering mess. "Is that what you need, Amanda?"

Amanda had wiped off the chip with a handkerchief she'd produced from her bodice and put it into a handheld contraption (Trini didn't know where she'd produced _that_ from and she wasn't sure she wanted to). Her eyes lit up as data scrolled down the display. "Yes."

"Good, although since he seems to have figured out what we were up to, you might want to move fast."

"I have a place I can go while I do what I need to."

"No place will be safe for you!!" cried Fleming, who had some how managed to stagger to his feet, although it came out 'do blze bill de sab por oo!' given the state of both his nose and his gut.

"We'll see who has to run when I get this information to Niska," growled Amanda, glaring at him fiercely.

Fleming howled in frustration and tried to make move towards Amanda. Kimberly rolled her eyes, "Jesus what does it take??" She drew back her fist and hit him in the face with a massive right hook. They watched as Fleming went down again, one of his teeth flying out so hard it bounced off the wall by the bed, ten feet away.

This time he stayed down, falling into unconsciousness with a moan. They all looked at him for a moment. Then Trini said, "That was fucking hot, Princess."

Amanda wrinkled her nose, "Ew."

"Don't be jealous, Amanda, it causes wrinkles..."

Amanda opened her mouth to answer but Trini interrupted, "Uh, ladies, I like a good quippy catfight as much as the next girl, but... why is old Ty's neck flashing?"

The two former Companions turned to look at the unconscious man. He was face down on the floor, very unconscious, and the back of his neck was indeed flashing red. Now that they were quiet, they could also hear a high beeping sound. Amanda closed her eyes, " _Tzao gao_..." she muttered.

"What?" Kim and Trini said at the same time.

"It appears he has a security implant that senses if he's been knocked out and calls a... large quantity of his men to investigate," Amanda shakes her head, "I knew he was paranoid but..."

" _Ju jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan_ ," growled Kimberly.

"Happy ain't how I would put it," Trini moved fast, slamming Amanda into the wall, her forearm against the madam's neck. "In fact I'd say you didn't fill us in half so much as you might've, and now we're in a whole mess of _go-se_ when we had your word this'd be easy as apple pie. Almost seems like maybe you wanted us to have problems..."

"I had no idea he had that damned thing in his neck! And the poison thing... I suspected, but I didn't know for sure. It's not as though we had weeks to come up with a plan!"

Trini's left hand twitched towards one of her pistols, "Kim could've been killed."

"Kimberly has had the same training I have. I knew she could handle Tyler if he got out of hand," she glanced at fallen man and his flashing neck, "As much as I'd love to debate this with you, there are probably at least a dozen men headed here now and I don't think you're any more excited about confronting them than I am." 

Trini flashed a grin at Amanda, the dangerous one. "Oh that's where you're wrong," her eyes darted to Kimberly, "But Kim wouldn't like it." She stepped back, releasing Amanda, who staggered but didn't fall.

Amanda rubbed her neck with one hand and gestured towards the window with the other, "That's the best way out. I'm assuming his men will come in through the front, good luck." And then she was gone, darting away through the window.

"Charming girl," muttered Trini.

"You have no idea," replied Kim, pulling out her comm and keying in Jason's frequency, "Where are you, Jason?"

"The book store, across the street, three storefronts down."

Trini disappeared out the window as Kimberly spoke. Kimberly followed and watched as Trini dropped down to the street below. Amanda had already disappeared into the bustling streets, "Tell Billy I'm sorry, but you've got to leave. Now."

"What? Why?"

"There's been a slight change in plans."

Jason's voice is tight as he says, "Might it have somethin' to do with the gang of unpleasant looking armed men marching down the street towards where you are?"

"Interestingly, yes."

"Kimberly..."

"Have to go, jumping out a window," she shut off the comm and slipped it into her cleavage as she climbed out of the window and dropped down to join Trini.

**

**Now**

"Still want me to keep them all breathing, boss??" Trini said.

Jason glanced back at Kimberly, "Did your friend get what she needed?"

"So she said."

"You think she's telling the truth? About Fleming and his family going down if she tells Niska about it?"

"About _that_?" Kim asked, as she reloaded her pistol, an edge to her voice, "Yes. I've seen what she looks like when she hates someone, and she _hates_ Tyler Fleming."

"Boss," Trini growled, "If we don't get these guys off our back before we get to the ship, it's not going to matter who's in charge of this black hole of a colony today or tomorrow or in a week cause we'll be dead or worse."

Jason jerked hard on the controls of the hauler and hit the brakes, causing it to slide to a halt sideways so that the driver's side was facing the direction they just came from. He pulled out his pistol and saw Trini smile out of the corner of his eye as she swiveled Betty in the direction of the poor bastards chasing them.

"Alright fine," he said, through gritted teeth, "let's kill some bad guys."

***

They arrived back at the ship twenty minutes later, just as Zack and Tommy were using the heavy loader to get the last huge crate into the cargo bay. The hauler was smoking a little from a half dozen bullet holes and the fact that Jason had to push it so hard getting out of town. He drove it up the ramp and hit the brakes hard.

Jason hopped out and ran over to where Zack and Tommy were lowering and securing the cargo. "I want us ready to leave in five minutes, I want us off this planet and plotting a burn out of this damn system in ten."

"You got it Cap," Zack said, sprinting back towards the cockpit.

Jason took over Zack's spot helping Tommy and called to Billy, "Billy, get down to the engine room and install those parts you got in town before the mayhem twins started head butting people. Hopefully they'll give us some extra push if we need it." He still wasn't entirely sure they wouldn't be pursued out of the system, but he didn't want to take any risks.

"Okay, Jason," Billy said, hurrying to the engine room.

"I was the only one head butted someone," Kimberly said airily, "and it was _person_ not _people_ , get it right."She and Trini were still in the parked hauler, keeping an eye out of the back of the ship. Betty was still in her mount, and Trini had her pointed back the way they had come. Kim was scanning the horizon with a pair of binoculars.

Luckily, no one else showed. But Jason didn't breathe a proper sigh of relief until the door was closed and the ship broke atmo with no sign of pursuit.

Once they had burned their way out of the system, he left the ship to Tommy, went to his quarters, grabbed the bottle of whiskey he had stashed there and took a very long pull.

He was pretty sure this crew was going to be the death of him.

***

**ONE WEEK LATER**

Trini and Kimberly were in the galley eating a dinner of some sort of freeze dried concoction from the ship's stores when Jason burst into the room, "Billy just checked in on how your _good friend_ Amanda was doing."

Kimberly stood, "Oh yes?"

"Yeah," Jason handed a data pad to Kimberly. The information the screen was arranged in neat, precise columns, obviously prepared by Billy, "While we were busy running away from the Fleming gang, Amanda accessed his database just like she said she would, and then contacted the gangster Fleming family works for, Niska. She gave him the proof that the Flemings were skimming, and he pretty much instantly deployed a hit team to kill the whole family. That done, he contacted Amanda and negotiated a deal with her to become the new boss of the system."

Kimberly and Trini, who had stood up as well, skimmed Billy's report, and when Kim looked up, Jason said, as calmly as he could, "So you told me we could trust this woman. That she was an old friend and that she'd do what she promised, which I'm almost sure was get rid of Fleming and then do her best to make sure that colony stayed free of criminal influence."

“Okay so we might not exactly be _best friends_ ," Kimberly said, shrugging, "and she might blame me just a _tiny bit_ for getting her kicked out of the guild, which might be _somewhat_ accurate and might also be _partially_ why we… _parted ways_ as well…”

Jason groaned loudly and threw his hands up, “So you just enabled her to become the BOSS of a whole system because you felt bad for something that happened four years ago??”

“Well it was a pretty big thing... and besides, she’s not going to be nearly as bad as the Flemings," she gestured to the report, "Says here she’s already stopped with the protection rackets and won’t be trafficking in hard drugs and people. And she did transfer us the credits she promised."

“Oh well thank God she’s a _benevolent_ criminal.”

“ _You’re_ a benevolent criminal!”

Jason grimaced, "Dammit Kim..."

Trini, who was standing in a not quite entirely casual way slightly in front of Kimberly, lightly fingering the hilt of the giant pistol on her hip, spoke then, her voice deceptively calm, "I think maybe you ought to relax, boss. At least she owes us a favor.”

“And,” added Tommy, who was leaning against the door of the galley, “if she acts up and gets in our way, I’m assuming Kimberly knows her well enough to figure out a weakness we can exploit.”

Kimberly frowned at that and looked away from them, her cheeks coloring slightly. Jason couldn’t be sure, because she was looking off to the side now, but she seemed almost… abashed, which was not something he was used to seeing on her. He realized that, even though she’d been on the ship for near on four years, he didn't know the details of why she’d left he guild, although he knew that Companions almost never left unless there was some sort of scandal. And she'd obviously felt like she owed Amanda something, helping her even though it was clear she knew the other woman might hold a grudge. He thought maybe that was something that might be important for him to know.

Trini turned slightly and put a comforting arm around Kimberly's waist. Kim melted into her side, dropping her head to the other girl’s shoulder. No matter how many times Jason saw this, it always surprised him a little. Kimberly generally projected an image of absolute confidence and competence, but when she melted like this, she looked achingly vulnerable. She had at least five inches on Trini, more depending on the shoes she was wearing at the moment, but at times like this Trini almost seemed to surround her protectively.

Trini raised a vaguely annoyed eyebrow at Jason, “Tommy thinks it’s cool, so that’s that, hey boss?” in a tone that said she was entirely done with this conversation.

Jason knew he had every right to press the point if he was so inclined. This was his ship after all, but there was no point fighting about it. Technically Tommy and Trini were right, and it wasn’t like they were planning on being out in what was now Amanda Clark’s territory again anytime soon. Besides, as much as he and Kim clashed sometimes, and as entirely insufferable as she could be, he really did like and respect her, both as a person and a crew member. Upsetting her further would do nothing except maybe get him punched by Trini.

He sighed, “Yeah. I guess the important thing is we’re all in one piece and we got the cargo we came for.” 

Trini nodded and turned to lead Kimberly back to their shared bunk.

When they were down the hall, Jason ran a hand over his face and sighed, "What's our ETA at Petaline?"

"Zack was saying 0430 last I checked," Tommy said, "So we've got a while. You should get some sleep."

"Yeah... sleep."

He turned to follow Trini and Kim towards the bunks, but Tommy's voice stopped him, "Sir?" he looked back at her, "Go easy on them. Tyler Fleming is no loss, and for all we know, Amanda Clark might not be so bad. She did keep her word. And didn't try to kill us or anything, which is more than you can say for a lot of the people who hire us. Kimberly may have things in her past she ain't proud of, but... I'd say we all do, wouldn't you?"

Jason held Tommy's pointed gaze for a long time, then nodded curtly and said, "Yeah, we do," before turning to head for his bunk to catch some sleep before the next series of near disasters hit.

**Author's Note:**

> This sort of just came to me this morning. I haven't actually watched firefly for a bit because of a [spoiler alert] that happened at one point (and also problematic stuff I had sort of blocked out), so my touch with the particular manner of speaking they use in the show isn't quite as deft as it might have been say five years ago. I tried to put in some random Chinese as I could without it becoming stilted or distracting. Translations below and all taken from this site, which has Chinese translations from the show: fireflychinese.kevinsullivansite.net/title/index.html. 
> 
> go-se- shit  
> ta me de - damn  
> tzao gao - crap  
> jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan - oh this is a happy development
> 
> PS Chapter 3 of night and day is in the works. As usual you can bother me about whatever on tumblr @ haughts-bulletproofvest


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